Senator Isabelo delos Reyes was born in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, on July
7, 1864 to Elias de los Reyes and Leona Florentino.

He acquired his early education in the Seminary of Vigan. The cruel
discipline imposed by the friar-professors and their arrogance and
bigotry inflamed his rebellious spirit so that he came to have a
lifelong for frailocracy.

In 1880, at the age of 16, he went to Manila and enrolled in the
College of San Juan de Letran. Two years later, on his eighteenth
birthday on July 7, 1882, his father died. After receiving the
degree of Bachelor of Arts from Letran, he entered the University of
Santo Tomas, where he studied law and paleography. In 1886 he
finished the course on notary public, but could not practice it
because he was then 22 years old - three years short of the minimum
age required by law to qualify as notary public.

To supplement the limited monthly allowance he received from his
mother, he became a journalist. Writing was in his blood, for he
inherited his passionate love for literature and writing ability
from his mother. He wrote articles for EI Diario de Manila, La
Oceania Espanol, EI Comercio, La Revista Popular, La Opinion, and
other Manila newspapers.

On June 14, 1884, while he was a 2O-year old struggling
newspaperman, he married Josefa Sevilla of Malabon.

In 1889 he founded the first vernacular newspaper in the
Philippines, Elllocano, with himself as editor as well as publisher.
This periodical did not last long. However, it achieved distinction
in the history of Philippine journalism. He made intensive
researches on Philippine history and culture and wrote various
historical works, such as Las Islas Visayas en la Epoca de la
Conquista(first edition in 187, second edition in 1889); La
Expedicion de Li-Mahong contra Filipinas en 1574 (1888); Triuntos
del Rosario 0 Los Holandeses en Filipinas (1888); Prehistoria de
Filipinas (1889); EI Folklore Filipino (1889); and Historia de
Ilocos (1890, 2 vols.).

As a journalist, Don Belong, as he was fondly called, aroused the
hostility of the friars and officials because he openly criticized
the evils of the Spanish rule and advocate reforms. He particularly
denounced the huge haciendas of the religious orders and demanded
agrarian reform to ameliorate the miserable conditionof the landless
Fillipino tenants. The Spanish authorities naturally branded him as
a tilibusterismo (traitor).

In January, 1897, shortly after the execution of the "Thirteen
Martyrs of Bagumbayan," Don Belong was arrested and jailed in the
Bilibid Prison. He was one of the many patriots who were jailed and
tortured because of their complicity in the ranging revolution,
which Andres Bonifacio and his katipuneros began in the hills of
Balintawak in August, 1896. While he was agonizing in prison, his
sick wife died. The inhuman authorities, who called themselves
Christians, would not permit him even a few minutes to attend his
wife's funeral and see his orphaned children.

Inside the bilibid Prison, Don Belong was able to talk with many
inmates, who were katipuneros, and learned from them the history of
the Katipunan and the reasons why they rose in arms against Spain.
Accordingly, he wrote within his prison cell the Sensacional Memoria
sobre la Revolucion Filipina, which became one of the valuable works
on the history of the revolution.

The arrival of General Fernando Primo de Rivera in Manila on April
25, 197, as successor of the ruthless Governor-General Camilo de
Polavieja (who ordered the execution of many Filipino patriots,
including Dr. Rizal), saved Don Belong from the firing squad. This
new governor-general, comparatively more humane than Polavieja,
deported him to Spain, where he was incarcerated at the infamous
Montijuich Castle in Barcelona. When the Pact of Biak-na-Bato was
concluded on December 14-15, 1897, he was released. To silence his
trenchant pen and win over to Spanish side, he was given a
distinguished job as Consejero del Ministery de Ultramar (Counselor
of the Ministry of Colonies) in Madrid, a position which he held
from 1898 to 1901. At that time, the Spanish-American war was raging
in the Philippines and in the West Indies.

While working in the Ministry of Colonies, Don Belong fell in love
with a charming Madrilena, Senorita Maria Angeles Lopez Montero,
daughter of a retired Spanish infantry colonel. He married her in
1898.

His marriage to a Spanish girl and his having a good job in the
Spanish Government did not, however, diminish Don Belong's love for
his native land. His patriotism could not be bartered for a
beautiful girl and a high government position. In 1899 he published
in Madrid La Sensacional Memoria sobre la RevoluciolJ Filip in a ,
which he had written in the Bilibid Prison. This book stirred great
sensation in Spain, for it exposed the evils of Spanish colonial
rule in the Philippines, such as the native Filipinos, thereby
causing the downfall of Spain in Asia. It had a preface written by
Don Miguel Morayta, Spanish historian, statesman, professor, and
friend of the Fillipino people.

During the Fililpino-American War (1899-1902), he used his pen to
lambast the Yankee attack on the First Philippine Republic. He
founded and edited two nationalist periodicals in Madrid, EI
Defensor de Filipinas and Filipinas Ante Europa. He wrote two books,
both published in Madrid, namely, Independencia y Revolucion (1900)
which urged the Filipinos to carry on their war against American and
La Religion de Katipunan which discussed the teachings and
organization of the K.K.K.

On July 1, 1901, the Spanish Government permitted Don Belong to
return to the Philippines. He brought many books with him, among
which were those written by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Victor
Hugo, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin, and other socialists
of Europe. These books inspired him to introduce socialism into his
own country. Shortly after his arrival in Manila, he contacted the
labor elements, urging them to unite and protect themselves from the
avaricious capitalists. He explained to them the benefits the)!
would derive by means of collective bargaining. On February 2, 1902.
he"founded the first labor union in the Philippines, called the
Union Obrera Democratica Filipina (Philippine Democratic labor
Union), with himself as president and Hermenegildo Cruz as
secretary, Realizing the value of propaganda, he founded and edited
the first labor newspaper in the country, La Redencion del Obrero
(The Redemption of the laborer), which championed the rights of
labor.

Utilizing his labor leadership, Don Belong, in a meeting of about 42
members of his labor organization at the Centro de Bellas Artes in
Quiapo on August 3, 1902, launched the Philippine Independent Church
and proclaimed Father Gregorio Aglipay as the Supreme bishop.
Shortly after this, he led a general strike of factory laborers and
farm tenants against the American business firms and friar-owned
haciendas. This general strike was sparked by a strike of the
Filipino cigar workers against the Commercial Tobacco factory in
Malabon, which was owned by Mr, Moxon, an American businessman. It
is said that more than 2,000 laborers and tenants demonstrated in
the streets of Manila. Civil Governor Taft had to call the U.S.
Calvary to disperse them.

As the mastermind of the abortive general strike, Don Belong was
arrested and jailed in Malabon. He was convicted by the court on the
charge of public disturbance and sentenced to four months in prison.
Because of his imprisonment, the mantle of labor leadership passed
to the hands of the fiery Dr. Dominador Gomez on September 3, 1902.

After his release from prison, Don Belong left Manila in February,
1903, for China and Japan. he was able to contact the self-exiled
revolutionary general, Artemio Ricarte, in Yokohama, on the
Philippine situation.

He returned to Manila, and later, in 1905 he sailed for Spain, where
he worked as a juror Uurado) of the Spanish Government in barcelona
until 1908. On April 3, 1909, he returned to Manila, with his
Spanish wife and children. His wife died on February 10,1910.

In 1912, at the age of 48, two great events highlighted Don Belong's
life - first was his marriage for the third time ans second, his
election as councilor of the city of Manila. His third wife was
Maria Um, a pretty 18-year old Chinese mestiza of Tondo. By winning
a seat in the city council, he began his political career. Impelled
by his nationalista sentiment and hatred for the friars, he passed
through the city council several resolutions changing the names of
ceratin streets bearing the names of the friars to those of the
Filipino patriots. Owning to his popularity among the asses, he was
re-elected for another term and served as city councilor until 1919.

In the senatorial elections of 1922 he launched his candidacy in the
First Senatorial District (comprising the Ilocos provinces). His
opponent was ; Representative Elpidio Quirino, a rising Ilokano
politician. He won after a hard campaign. On May 27, 1923, while
serving his term in the Senate (1922-1928), his third wife died of
childbirth.

Upon the expiration of his senatorial term, Don Belong gave up
politics and devoted the last years of his life to religion and
writing. As an honorary Bishop of the Aglipayan Church, he wrote
many sermons and other religious tracts. It should be noted that he
was the author of most of the Aglipayan literature, such as the
Biblia Filipina (Philippine Bible), Oficio Divino (Mass-Book),
Catequesis (Catechism), Plegarias (Prayers), Genesis Cientifico y
Moderno (Scientific and Modern Genesis), and Calendario Aglipayano
(Aglipayan Calendar). He also translated into Iloko the Gospels of
St. John, St. Luke, St. Mark, and St. Matthew; the New Testament;
and the Acts of the Apostles.

In January, 1829, Don Belong was stricken with paralytic and became
bed-ridden until his death on October 10, 1938, at the age of 74. He
was survived by 15 of his 27 children by his three marriages.